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‘I suppose I’d better go and get dressed,’ she said drowsily, lifting her tousled head to survey him with sleepy eyes. ‘See you at breakfast.’ She yawned. ‘Didn’t Sofia say something about it being served out on the terrace?’
‘That’s right.’ And even though his instinct was to peel her grapes and slowly pass them from his mouth into her own, he quashed it. ‘You’ll find everything you need.’
‘But you’ll be there?’
‘No. I had some breakfast after my swim,’ he added, feeling her soft body grow tense against his.
‘Oh.’
‘Come and find me afterwards,’ he said, hardening his heart to the note of disappointment in her voice. ‘I’ll be working in my office. One of the staff will show you the way if you can’t remember how to get there.’
‘I’m sure I can manage to find my way around a private house—no matter how grand,’ she retorted. ‘After working in a two-hundred-and-fifty-room hotel.’
Despite her bravado, Theo couldn’t miss the brief shadow of hurt on her lips, but although he told himself he didn’t care, that wasn’t strictly true. She was starting togetto him and he didn’t want that. He felt like a piece of soft clay in her hands, which she had begun moulding without first asking his permission. That was the reason why he had distanced himself from her this morning, after the intensity of the night they had shared. Those deliciously erotic hours in the moonlight, when it had been all too easy to forget how badly she had hurt him.
Ignoring the siren call of her body, he had left before she was awake, taking himself off to the pool to conduct a more punishing than usual early morning swim. After getting showered and dressed, he had walked in here intending to resist her, but resistance had been futile. One look at her and he had been lost. Despite his best intentions, he had lowered her onto his aching shaft, physical pleasure obliterating any concerns about his uncharacteristic lack of resolve.
Still, he thought, as he took his second shower of the morning—why not just go with the flow? He had spent far too much time already resisting Mia. Why not take as much as she was willing to give and reciprocate? Because, when the chips were down, was she really any different from any other woman? How could she be? With repeated exposure, her undeniable allure was bound to evaporate. He would become bored by her—it was as inevitable as the passage from night into day. His jaw firmed. And the sooner that happened, the better.
But when she appeared at the door of his home office an hour later, growing bored of her seemed too big a stretch of the imagination. Beneath his breath, Theo cursed, his immediate stirring of lust reinforcing how completely she had captivated him. How had she managed to maintain that air of shining sweetness, despite the decadent night they’d just enjoyed? Her copper curls were tamed into glossy ringlets, her cheeks flushed with roses and she was wearing another of those simple cotton dresses—this one awash with tiny bluebirds rather than flowers. She looked fresh and wholesome and, despite her undeniable effect on his senses, thoroughly out of place in the pared-down luxury of this house.
‘I phoned Pappous’s house,’ she announced. ‘And apparently he had the best night’s sleep he’s had in a long time.’ Her voice grew soft. ‘The nurse said how much better he looked this morning.’
Theo put his pen down. ‘I’m pleased. And yesterday, he saw you.’ He raised his brows. ‘The two facts can’t be unrelated.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of making that connection,’ she responded quietly. ‘But like you, I’m pleased.’
Shutting down his computer, he leaned back in his chair to study her. ‘You know, before we go and see him, we need to arrange a shopping expedition.’
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. ‘What sort of shopping did you have in mind?’
‘Things to wear, mainly.’
‘For me?’
‘Of course.’ His gaze flickered to the same cheap espadrilles she’d been wearing yesterday and even though the ribbons tied around her slim ankles were undeniably cute, they were also undeniably frayed. ‘And shoes, of course.’
‘What’s wrong with the ones I’m wearing?’
‘There’s nothing wrong with them, Mia.’ There was a pause. ‘But you’re supposed to be my wife.’
‘And you don’t think I look the part?’
He raised his brows. ‘Do you?’
She tilted her chin in a defiant gesture and once again, Theo felt his throat dry.
‘You’re saying you want me in silks and satins because my very ordinary cotton dress lets you down, is that it?’ she demanded.
He shook his head. ‘I think you look lovely as you are,’ he said suddenly, and the brief delight which replaced her mulishness inexplicably stabbed at his heart. ‘But you’re dressed like a maid rather than as the wife of a billionaire, and not only will it make our supposed marriage unconvincing, you’ll also run the risk of feeling out of place when I take you out.’
‘And we can’t have that, can we?’ she said waspishly. ‘Very well, Theo. Do your worst. Fix me up with some personal shopper or whatever it is you rich people do—though I warn you I don’t have the kind of figure for clingy silk dresses, so I’ll probably look even more out of place.’
‘I’m not proposing dressing you up like a doll,’ he said coolly. ‘Just buying you something new, which looks like it hasn’t happened in quite a while.’
‘I’ve been saving up for my veterinary course, which I’m funding myself,’ she said. ‘And I don’t need more than an abbreviated wardrobe.’
‘Clothes which are scanty?’ he hazarded, with the quick beat of expectation.
